BRISTOL – The Greeneville Greene Devils are still alive for a sixth-place finish in The Classic at Tennessee High School after taking down one of the nation’s top teams in the Madison-Ridgeland Academy from Madison Mississippi, 69-52.
The Patriots are coached by Richard Duease who has 1835 career wins, second among active High School coaches in the Nation, and his Patriots team features 7-foot Erick Dampier Jr., the son of 17-year NBA veteran Erick Dampier. But none of that did not intimidated the Devils on Monday morning.
Greeneville came out and set the tone for the game on the very first possession with a three ball from the corner by former Classic Three-point Champion, Dom Tweed. Trey Thompson followed that with triple from the top of the key for 6-0 Devil lead. Zaydyn Anderson hit a three from the top of the key for a 9-0 lead.
Will Bizot was good from behind the arc, but Thompson drilled one of his patented catch-and-release triples from straight away that forced the Patriots into a timeout at the 5:09 mark with the Devils up 12-3.
Coming out of the timeout Greeneville forced another turnover and Thompson drilled another nearly identical catch-and-release triple. MRA tried to creep closer, but Thompson was left all alone in the corner and rattled home another three-pointer, the sixth of the quarter for the Devils.
Saturday’s leading scorer, Isaac McGil, picked up two quick fouls trying to contain Dampier and had to take a seat for the remainder of the half, but Cole Franklin came in a gave the Devils a spark with back-to-back layups, showing no fear as he drove the lane against the big Mississippian. Yordan Mills finished off the scoring in the first quarter with a teardrop floater over the big man and the Devils were up 24-14 at the end of the first period.
Mills threw up another three ball from the elbow that hit nothing but net as the second quarter started, and Anderson stole the ball and showed off his track speed by going coast to coast for a layup that pushed the lead to 29-17.
The Patriots then went inside to Dampier, but Tarin Claridy came off the bench for back-to-back layups and the Devils extended their lead to 14 points on Thompson’s triple from the elbow at 39-25.
McGill was back on the court to begin the second half and drove the lane for a basket and Tweed gave the Devils their biggest lead at 17 points with a deep triple from the logo. McGill’s runner in the lane midway through the quarter shut down a mini run by the Patriots made. McGill then found Anderson heading toward the goal for another two points. Thompson sent a pass to Cole Smith in the corner for a triple and Franklin followed a miss with a put-back in transition as the quarter was winding down for a 55-39 lead.
Coach Brad Woolsey knowing the Patriots scored the final 19 points in a come from behind win just two days ago changed things up defensively and had Thompson defend the middle. Thompson was up to the challenge, forcing the Patriots into shots they really didn’t want.
Thompson later said, “It’s definitely a tough challenge. I love playing good talent, it makes me better and to makes the team better for sure.”
Franklin kept the pressure on the MRA on the offensive end with a layup and McGill stole the inbounds pass for another layup to start the fourth quarter while Thompson continued to hold things down on the defensive end. With the devils up 20 they had no plans on letting this one slip away and Thompson drilled a jumper in the lane before the final daggers of back-to-back triples by Mills and Tweed respectively dropped through. The Devils were able to take their foot off the gas around the two-minute mark and went on for a 69-52 in over a very good and much bigger team.
Woolsey said, “It wasn’t really our plan to come out and shoot threes. It comes down to taking good shots and we got off good shots today. It’s really taking what you can get and making what you get.”
The Devils spread the ball around and were led in scoring by Thompson with 17 points, Mills added 12 and Tweed chipped in with 10 while Anderson and Franklin were close to double figures with nine and eight respectively.
Dampier had a game high 18 points to go along with 10 rebounds for the Patriots and Jas Smith had 11points.
The Devils will play for a sixth-place finish. In The Classic on New Years Eve at 1:30.
